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Patriots Mailbag: A beefed-up run game, trade deadline needs and more originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Not many folks expected the Patriots to be 1-0 entering their home opener against the Seahawks on Sunday. Even fewer will expect them to emerge 2-0 after Week 2. But there’s some reason for optimism in New England after last week’s upset of the Bengals.
How might the Patriots replicate their Week 1 success this Sunday? We’ll tackle that topic and more in the latest Mailbag…
@BensGotTweets: The Patriots averaged 6.7 offensive linemen and tight ends per play on Sunday. A strategy to obviously help cover up protection issues. Do you see this trend continuing throughout the season?
They’ll continue to operate in that fashion as long as it works. It establishes the kind of tone they want to set as a run-first team. With those looks — especially their 13 personnel packages with two tight ends and an extra offensive lineman — they’re stating their intentions to run, and they showed against the Bengals they could run it anyway. There’s an element of overwhelming someone physically, with no deception as to what their plans are, that can wear on an opponent mentally over time.
The numbers would suggest, at least through Week 1, that those heavier formations were effective. They led the league, by far, with those types of “13” attempts. They ran 12 times in those packages (the next-closest team was Buffalo with five), picking up 56 yards (4.7 yards per attempt) and three first downs. Half of those attempts generated a positive EPA per play figure, per Sports Info Solutions.
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Going with one tight end and one extra lineman — it was always rookie Caedan Wallace last week — generated 17 yards on five rushing attempts but a 60 percent positive EPA per play figure. (For reference, the fifth-most efficient rushing offense in Week 1,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/patriots-mailbag-beefed-run-game-192209178.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-09-12 19:25:38
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